Chapter 76: Release

The change inside Vritra became visible the moment Frey activated Calamity Release.

The spectral serpent behind him had spent the entire spar swallowing fragments of force from attacks its Coils successfully intercepted, and now the turbulent energy trapped beneath its translucent scales began flowing toward Frey. It entered through the Rune connection rather than pouring directly into his body, transformed into the destructive energy the System called Calamity Mana. Frey felt the pressure gather around his limbs and weapons, volatile enough that instinct warned him against releasing too much before he understood how his body would respond.

Across the ruined clearing, Jet watched without advancing. The two Asura Arms remained manifested behind his shoulders, while the Vorpal Blade rested diagonally before him. They had already spent enough time exchanging attacks to know that Calamity Release wasn’t something Frey should discover by accidentally dumping forty-six percent through a single strike.

Frey seemed to reach the same conclusion. He lowered one curved sword and shifted his weight onto his left leg before directing only a small portion of the Reservoir downward. The energy moved through his hip, thigh and calf before gathering beneath his right foot, where a dark, violent pressure appeared for less than a second.

Then Frey pushed off.

BOOM!

The ground fractured beneath his foot.

Jet’s eyes widened as Frey vanished from his original position and crossed most of the distance between them before the explosion of dirt had finished expanding. His acceleration was far beyond anything he had displayed during the previous exchanges, but the sudden increase had clearly surprised Frey as well. His torso leaned farther forward than intended, and his first sword came toward Jet with more momentum than control.

Jet raised the Vorpal Blade.

CLANG!

The collision drove Jet backward several meters, his boots carving through the soil as sparks burst from the weapons. One Asura Arm caught Frey’s second wrist before the other curved sword could join the attack, while the remaining manifested arm planted against Frey’s chest and shoved him away before his momentum carried both of them off balance.

Frey landed roughly but remained upright. A small crater marked the place from which he had launched, and his expression shifted as he looked between it and his own leg. The acceleration hadn’t been produced by strengthening his muscles. He had effectively detonated Calamity Mana beneath his movement and used the resulting force as propulsion.

"That was a lot faster than I expected," Frey admitted as he adjusted his footing and flexed his ankle to make sure nothing had been injured. He glanced toward the Reservoir information only he could see before looking back at Jet. "The good news is that it barely used anything. The bad news is that I’m going to break my own neck if I keep launching myself without learning how to steer."

Jet rolled his shoulder after the collision and kept the Vorpal Blade raised. "Then use less until your body catches up with the acceleration. You still have several other release methods to test, and I’d rather not carry you back to Zenith because you discovered the limits of your spine."

Frey laughed under his breath, but he took the warning seriously. When he accelerated again, the burst beneath his foot was noticeably smaller. He still crossed the clearing quickly enough to scatter loose leaves in his wake, yet this time he retained control and transitioned directly into a sword attack.

Jet intercepted the first blade, redirected the second with an Asura forearm and countered with the Vorpal Blade. Frey ducked beneath the silver edge and moved past him, then abruptly turned and channeled Calamity Mana into his right-hand sword.

The curved blade changed immediately.

Dark energy crawled along its edge, compressed tightly enough that the air around it distorted. Frey didn’t attempt to strike Jet directly. He chose the open space beside him and swung.

The Calamity Mana left the sword.

A crescent-shaped wave ripped across the clearing.

Jet threw himself sideways as the expanding arc passed several meters from him and continued into the forest.

KRAAAASH!

The first tree was severed near its base.

The second split apart.

The destructive arc continued through another trunk before finally losing cohesion among the dense vegetation, leaving several trees leaning at impossible angles until their weight dragged them down. Branches tore through neighboring foliage as the trunks collapsed, filling the forest with cracking wood and a rolling cloud of leaves.

Jet landed with one Asura hand against the ground and turned toward the destruction.

Frey stared too.

The sword release had consumed more of the Reservoir than the movement burst, but the result had demonstrated something important. Calamity Release wasn’t one fixed attack. Frey could distribute stored energy according to what he needed at that moment, spending smaller portions on movement or concentrating more through a weapon for destructive range.

The danger was deciding how much his body and equipment could tolerate.

Frey inspected his sword and found the blade intact, although his wrist was trembling slightly from the discharge. He tightened his grip before raising both weapons again. "I think we’ve confirmed that this thing works. If we keep standing around admiring the damage, the Reservoir will start losing energy, so we might as well continue."

Jet pushed himself upright with the manifested hand and brought the Vorpal Blade forward. "Then try keeping enough control to avoid cutting down half the forest. We still need to find our way back through it."

They moved almost simultaneously.

Frey used another short discharge through his foot, but Jet was ready for the acceleration this time. Instead of tracking Frey’s body after the explosion, he watched the direction of the initial push and moved before Frey completed the burst. Their swords met near the center of the clearing, sparks exploding outward as the Vorpal Blade struck one curved weapon. Frey’s second blade came around from Jet’s left, only for a crimson-black hand to seize his forearm and force the attack downward.

Jet’s use of Asura Arms had become noticeably cleaner.

He no longer tried to make every limb attack at once. His natural right hand controlled the Vorpal Blade while his left remained available for balance, grappling and changes of grip. The manifested arms operated above that foundation, one interrupting Frey’s weapons while the other attacked through openings created by the first three limbs. The arrangement wasn’t flawless, and several movements still arrived later than Jet intended, but mistakes that had repeatedly disrupted him earlier were becoming less common.

Weapon Master was proving its value through those corrections.

Frey twisted his trapped arm free and summoned two Vritra Coils from opposite sides. One serpent wrapped toward Jet’s waist while the second targeted the Asura Arm nearest Frey’s head. Jet stepped inside the first Coil’s path and allowed the second to approach before suddenly withdrawing the manifested limb, forcing Vritra to close around empty air. His Vorpal Blade immediately came upward from beneath Frey’s guard.

Frey caught it with both swords.

Jet’s upper Asura Arm struck from behind the locked weapons.

A third Coil intercepted.

BOOM!

The impact pushed Frey backward and sent another pulse through Vritra.

[Calamity Reservoir: 51%]

The percentage had already begun recovering what Frey spent on his initial tests.